Yeah, it’s such a shame. This should be the silver lining of ubiquitous data harvesting.
The problem is that they aren’t really serving individual consumers - the main customer for these big attention merchants is other businesses. Amazon and Steam et al could focus more on helping you surface great products you love, but they undercut that by helping sellers get visibility they want (almost regardless of product quality).
It’s certainly not simple still. They’re not incentivized fully to serve your interest, and even if smaller companies are, it’s hard.
Yep, that’s the right train of thought.
I used to also dislike them, due to their limitations vs cash. But eventually realized that I liked having the excuse to go out of town to a fancy restaurant, or splurge on games I might otherwise decide I don’t need right now.
Strictly speaking, cash is better, yes. But gift cards can influence people to do things that might make them happier than typical rational or habitual decisions.